The Northern Advocate Daily TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1936. PROGRESS AT KAWAKAWA

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1936, Page 6

The Northern Advocate Daily

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1936. PROGRESS AT KAWAKAWA

Registered (or transmission through the poet aa a Newspaper.

At the last monthly meeting of the Kawakawa Chamber of Commerce a number of progressive resolutions were passed, the chief of these being: (a,) The establishment of a technical school at Kawakawa ; (b) the inclusion of the East Coast of the Northland Peninsula in the Tourist Department’s publicity film schemes; (c) the inclusion of the Kawakawa Town district in the North Auckland Electric Power Board’s area ; and (d) the removal of the railway line from its present dangerous position in the main street. This is a big programme and a progressive one. Quite recently the road leading from Kawakawa to Moerewa has been deviated in order to keep it above flood level and make Kawakawa an all-

weather town, or a town that ean; be reached or departed from at all | states of the weather. There are many signs of progress in Kawa- j kawa, including a new picture theatre which is to be opened in December, and new businesses which have been started within recent months.

Kawakawa is a very old town-; ship which at one time produced: coal of high quality. The popu-j lation. at the last census was 520, j including Maoris ; or 142 less thanj that of Kaikohe. Tt is the pro-j duction from the land which is taking place in the districts sur-| rounding Kawakawa that is forc-| ing the town ahead. The land be-1 tween the township and the port; at Opua is very good indeed and capable of great production. Kawakawa, being within very short distance of the shipping port, on the railway, and adjacent to the freezing works and dairy factory at Moerewa. is well situated to become an important commercial centre, particularly as it is adjacent to deep water and is the natural focal point for a large area of productive land. As to the request for a. technical school it should be known that there are 213 primary schools, 52 native schools and 6 secondary departments north of a line joining Pakiri, Wayby and Port Albert and that sooner or later this area is likely to be constituted a separate education board district, the governing authority to have jurisdiction regarding all matters of the kind under consideration. Probably the. best kind of secondary school to be considered now is a comprehensive school —that is, one which provides for all branches of education. Kawakawa’s advocacy for the inclusion of the East Coast of the Northland peninsula in the Tourist Department’s publicity film schemes requires no endorsement; it is self-evident. The North has suffered badly through lack of publicity in the past, and if the request is supported by other districts as well, it is possible that the whole province may be included comprehensively. The request to have Kawakawa included in the North Auckland Electric Power Board’s area should receive every consideration, particularly as the transmission wares will be extended to Hukerenui, and could easily follow the railway line through Akerama, Towai, Maromaku, Opalii, Pokapu, Otiria to Maerewa and Kawakawa, and subsequently.to the port a t OpuaThe freezing works and butter factory at Moerewa should be large consumers of electricity. The Kawakawa district could be included in the North Auckland Power Board’s district by the necessary percentage of residents, town and country, signing a petition applying for this to be done. The last item on a useful agenda discussed by the Chamber of Commerce aimed at the removal of the railway line from its present dangerous position in the main street. This is a matter entitled to the immediate consideration of the authorities. Surely it is more pressing than the elirainnation of railway crossings in iremote parts of the country. The line as at present located is hot only a peril to townspeople and travellers who pass along the main North highway, but is an eyesore in a street that is rapidly becoming modernised. There should be no delay in the shifting of the line, particularly in view of the development, with increased population, which will take place in Kawakawa.